The Bluffton High volleyball team talked all season about winning a state championship in its first run through SCHSL Class AAAA.

“It's going to be a challenge, but I'm always optimistic,” middle blocker Abby Roulston said early last week.

But the tournament bracket didn't do Bluffton any favors. The Bobcats, ranked eighth in the Class AAAA coaches poll, saw their postseason end earlier than they expected Thursday in the second round.

Seventh-ranked Lexington came from behind to eliminate Bluffton in five games. The visiting Wildcats won 20-25, 25-18, 21-25, 25-20, 15-11 to earn a quarterfinal meeting with No. 3 Wando this week.

“AAAA is just a whole lot harder, and we knew it was going to be,” said 10th-year Bluffton coach Al Stern, whose 2007 team won the Class AAA title. “If we were going to lose, at least it was to a team ranked higher than us.”

Bluffton won the first and third games and took and early lead in game four. But facing down elimination, Lexington tightened up its defense and set up a variety of good looks at the net to pull away in the final two games.

Trailing 16-12 in the fourth, the Wildcats ripped off an 11-1 run. Bluffton held off a pair of match points, via a Mackenzie Cooler kill and a Madison Cooler block, but Lexington closed it out.

The Wildcats scored seven of eight points early in the decisive game en route to a 15-11 victory.

While the Bluffton defense scrambled to dig out one strong Lexington swing after another, the Bobcats' passing broke down late and set up fewer opportunities for their hitters.

“That's what killed us. If you can't pass, you can't run your offense,” Stern said. “You give them free balls, and then they kill you. That's just the game. All season long that's been our biggest problem.”

Bluffton loses three seniors to graduation in Roulston, libero Morgan Delaplane and blocker Liz Collins. They will return a pair of formidable hitters next fall in Mackenzie Cooler, an all-state player, and Jordan Franklin. Madison Cooler, only an eighth-grader, has given the Bobcats solid play at the net along with sophomore Grace Collins.

The Bobcats finished the season with a 38-9-2 record and a Region 8-AAAA title.

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